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Jane and Dorothy A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility eBook Marian Veevers

Download As PDF : Jane and Dorothy A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility eBook Marian Veevers

Jane and Dorothy A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility eBook Marian Veevers

As biographer Marian Veevers asserts, when Jane Austen wrote about the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, in her novel SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, she could have been describing herself as Elinor, and Dorothy Wordsworth --- a woman she never met, but a contemporary with whom she had much in common --- as Marianne.

Dorothy was the sister of the famed poet William and was willing, it seemed, to subsume her own talents in favor of watching his flourish. Jane, by contrast, knew she had writing talent, almost compulsively pursuing it in an age when women simply did not have careers. Like Dorothy, she had limited means, never married, and lived in her later years by the largesse of a brother. Jane’s story is the better known, and Veevers, who works for the Wordsworth Trust and is better informed about Dorothy for that reason, has done her best to show the women in equal portion.

Unlike Dorothy, Jane wrote prolifically, her novels recognized among the literati by her 30s. Dorothy, who also knew she could write, never completed a book but left a legacy of letters and journals. Still, her life was anything but prosaic. It is still easy to speculate, despite Veevers' careful parsing of the situation, that Dorothy and William were lovers. He gave her the wedding ring that was to belong to his bride, and the two domiciled together for much of their adult lives. Dorothy not only was the third wheel in William’s marriage, but also shared her brother’s admiration and affection for his friend and fellow writer, Samuel Coleridge.

Veevers has taken pains to compare these two women to the favor of each. Jane was sensible, withdrawn, proper, reacting to her failures in love by shutting off her feelings; Dorothy was, like Austen’s Marianne, “eager in every thing.” Jane may have been the more conventionally attractive of the two, but Dorothy was known for her bright eyes and her willingness to experience what life had to offer. She, too, was depressed, but the symptoms were obvious to those around her, while Jane chose to suffer in silence. Both women were victims of an unfeminized age. In the Georgian era, revolutionary giant steps were being taken by men, while women were still judged (by men) to be inferior, a circumstance that Veevers properly calls “suffocating.”

The writing here is rich, the language redolent of the times, the “sense and sensibility” worthy of the book’s heroines. Veevers has done a great service to Jane and Dorothy, and to readers who will gain new or renewed admiration for them.

Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott


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Jane and Dorothy A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility eBook Marian Veevers Reviews

It has been my goal to increase my intake of non-fiction into my reading diet so I snapped up the opportunity to read two bios in one book. Selecting Jane and Dorothy was not a real challenge, more of a dipping my pinky toe in because... full disclosure? I will read pretty much anything about Jane Austen so this was a totally 'have her cake and eat it, too' pick.

But, that said, it was actually seeing Austen sharing pages with great English poet, William Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy, that really grabbed my attention. I am sadly lacking in poet love and know next to nothing about either Wordsworth so this was an opportunity.

The author formatted the book in a familiar biographical fashion. She started with the family history for both women who were born four years apart in different parts of England, but into the same class. From there she compares and contrasts their earlier years right along to their deaths. Behind the narration-style main body are appendixes with poems mentioned, a book list for those consulted our used in research, and finally, a helpful index.

The author leans heavily on her subtitle theme of Sense and Sensibility all the way through. Jane is 'Sense' and Dorothy is 'Sensibility'. As a reader, I learned to not get carried away with this dichotomy because many times Jane acted with sensibility and Dorothy with sense. And, there are many times that the source data just does not give one enough to know more than they said or did something, but not the motivation or emotion behind it. I thought the author was fair when she posed her own surmises.

I felt the book delved into the ladies' lives equitably and presented them as fully fleshed out people instead of goddesses on pedestals. I've not read all that is out there on Jane Austen, but when I do, an author/scholar likes to take a specific approach and line up sources to back this up. I found it refreshing to see an author hang more neutral and show that there is quite a bit of scope to the imagination, shall we say. Austen is open and warm among her family and close friends, but generally manages to show a colder, even haughtier side, to others. She loves family, but she isn't afraid to make her displeasure known. As to Dorothy Wordsworth, this was my first encounter about her life, but I sensed the same cautious approach not to treat her as only this or only that. She's an emotional lady who is more open among her family and friends, but is barely noted by outsiders as more than a nice lady.

And, that leads me to the fact, that I found this book engaging because tucked in among the familiar were neat little nuances (again, this is in respect to Austen with whom I'm familiar though its likely true of Wordsworth's side, too). The author makes a point about Austen taking pot shots at people, but following it up with humor and wit so it soothes the sting. I had to chuckle of an example brought out of how Austen presented her newly engaged brother with her recent finished stories about three sisters all going for rich marriages (Edward, her brother is a prize as the Knight heir and his wife, Elizabeth is one of three sisters out seeking a brilliant match). The author also spotlights and speculates about Austen's seeming cool relationship with her own mother like they are chalk and cheese. In Dorothy's life, the author takes a stab at exploring a dark possibility that Dorothy and her beloved brother had an incestuous relationship. For and against are presented through the testament of people at the time. There is a discussion of what sort of health issue took up the end of Dorothy's life- was it severe depression or dementia?

A strong theme of women's history was not ignored. A modern reader will shudder at some of the Georgian ideas about women at the time and have a whole new appreciation for what the pair of these women and others were up against when they defied convention in their lives and their literary work. Dorothy acted out a more outwardly outrageous rebellion than Jane when she left the protection of her uncle's to join a scandalous brother, but Jane rejected perfectly eligible marriage proposals that would have instantly changed her status and financial situation likely for her stance about marrying for love and a strong inclination to write.

As to writing, Jane is a novelist and Dorothy is a poet and journalist. Austen was published during her own lifetime while Dorothy only saw a couple poems published in with her brother's and the bulk of her work was published decades later. There are nice discussions about their work and how their lives and environments played a role in their written work.

All in all, I wouldn't say I was riveted or always agreed with the author's direction, but I thought it was a fabulous job of pulling together source information, good decisions on what to include, and gave me a well-rounded picture of both women as people and as writers. I would recommend it to those who want a good piece of women's history, historical bio, better knowledge of one or both ladies, or even for those who generally prefer historical fiction, but want a non-fic now and then.
Have you ever wondered how Jane Austin's private life influenced her novels? Have you marveled at how constrained her heroines seem to be?  A beautifully written and easily readable dual biography illuminates Jane's life in the context of another literary woman who had a great influence on the inception the romantic poetry, Dorothy Wordsworth. The book follows the 2 women through their lives as children through their deaths, which were lived out over the same Georgian time period.

Have you ever wondered how Jane Austin's private life influenced her novels? Have you marveled at how constrained her heroines seem to be?  A beautifully written and easily readable dual biography illuminates Jane's life in the context of another literary woman who had a great influence on the inception the romantic poetry, Dorothy Wordsworth. The book follows these 2 women from childhood through their deaths during the same Georgian time period.

Despite Jane's excellent books, I still had little idea of how very difficult women's lives were during this period. For the whole of her life, Jane had no money of her own and was not able to determine where she lived or for how long, when she traveled and to where, or even how she spent her time.

Dorothy Wordsworth's ground breaking (and ultimately heart-breaking) life is a stark contrast to Jane's and yet reinforces all those constraints under which all women labored at the time.

You will leave this book with new empathy both for the author of Pride and Prejudice and for the muse of "I wandered lonely as a cloud."
As biographer Marian Veevers asserts, when Jane Austen wrote about the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, in her novel SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, she could have been describing herself as Elinor, and Dorothy Wordsworth --- a woman she never met, but a contemporary with whom she had much in common --- as Marianne.

Dorothy was the sister of the famed poet William and was willing, it seemed, to subsume her own talents in favor of watching his flourish. Jane, by contrast, knew she had writing talent, almost compulsively pursuing it in an age when women simply did not have careers. Like Dorothy, she had limited means, never married, and lived in her later years by the largesse of a brother. Jane’s story is the better known, and Veevers, who works for the Wordsworth Trust and is better informed about Dorothy for that reason, has done her best to show the women in equal portion.

Unlike Dorothy, Jane wrote prolifically, her novels recognized among the literati by her 30s. Dorothy, who also knew she could write, never completed a book but left a legacy of letters and journals. Still, her life was anything but prosaic. It is still easy to speculate, despite Veevers' careful parsing of the situation, that Dorothy and William were lovers. He gave her the wedding ring that was to belong to his bride, and the two domiciled together for much of their adult lives. Dorothy not only was the third wheel in William’s marriage, but also shared her brother’s admiration and affection for his friend and fellow writer, Samuel Coleridge.

Veevers has taken pains to compare these two women to the favor of each. Jane was sensible, withdrawn, proper, reacting to her failures in love by shutting off her feelings; Dorothy was, like Austen’s Marianne, “eager in every thing.” Jane may have been the more conventionally attractive of the two, but Dorothy was known for her bright eyes and her willingness to experience what life had to offer. She, too, was depressed, but the symptoms were obvious to those around her, while Jane chose to suffer in silence. Both women were victims of an unfeminized age. In the Georgian era, revolutionary giant steps were being taken by men, while women were still judged (by men) to be inferior, a circumstance that Veevers properly calls “suffocating.”

The writing here is rich, the language redolent of the times, the “sense and sensibility” worthy of the book’s heroines. Veevers has done a great service to Jane and Dorothy, and to readers who will gain new or renewed admiration for them.

Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott